36 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Read this one before "In The Night Room", as it leads into it. Unfortunately, I read them in the wrong order, so now some of the Night Room stuff makes more sense. I liked this "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" book very well. Some creepy moments occur, but Straub is not gruesome and allows those moments to blend into a sense of wonder and awe at what we do not see, yet know is real.

This book has so many ups and downs and twists and turns that it makes you dizzy trying to keep up with who is doing what to whom but all in all it is a GREAT coming-of-age mystery that will have you baffled. Reads like a gentler version of "Silence of The Lambs" meets "Huck Finn". I found it easy to read, if at times confusing but that just challenged me to figure out what was going on--this ending will shock you and leaving you wanting a sequel---it did me.

This book was a good mix of mystery and horror. I liked how the point of view switched from Mark while he was obsessed with the house and his uncle Tim trying to figure out what happened to his nephew.

Pros:
Great story line that kept me interested the entire time. Sounds like it would be a great movie. I loved the mystery. With the turn of every page I wondered if the next page would scare me. Although it wasn't scary (to me), it gave you the feeling that soon you would be. Regardless of the things I didn't like of the book, it's still worth the read & I'm willing to disregard these things. I enjoyed the story, the characters and I appreciate the author for trying to paint the visual.

Cons:
I'm not sure why the suicide happened. CORRECTION: I do know why it happened, I just don't understand the timing of the suicide. I kept thinking, "why now". It seems like the author added too many personal thoughts of the characters, which seemed "random" at times. I felt like he was trying to fill the pages of the book.

All in all, it's a great read, very interesting and different story line.

I did enjoy this book... it was certainly different and had many different story elements - a haunted house, serial killers, ghosts... but it just didn't add up to be that scary of a story, really. And in the end, it didn't make a whole lot of sense - was Mark murdered or not? Where is his body? Did I miss something?

Nancy underhill commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son fifteen year old Mark vanishes. The boys uncle, novelist Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery.

Nancy Underhill commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son-15 year old Mark-vanishes. The boy's uncle, novelist Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before Nancy's suicide, Mark had become obsesssed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. No mere empty building, the house whispers from basement to attic with the echoes of a long hidden true-life horror story, and Tim comes to fear that in investigating its unspeakable history, Mark stumbled across its last and greatest secret: a ghostly lost girl who may have coaxed the needy, suggestible boy into her mysterious domain.

From Back Cover:
Nancy Underhill commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son - fifteen year old Mark - vanishes. The boys uncle, Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before Nancys suicide, Mark had become obsessed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. No mere empty building, the house whispers from attic to basement with the echos of a long hidden true life horror story, and Tim Underhill comes to fear that in investigating its unspeakable history, Mark stumbled across its last and greatest secret: a ghostly girl who may have coaxed the needy, suggestible boy into her mysterious domain.